General Guide by androsynth

I added a section to explain the purpose of this guide thanks to throatslashers comment. Going into detail about theorycrafting would be overkill given that most guides don't apply a basic amount of reasoning into the value of most items.

I also added a section giving an example of how I would explain my Alistar item build. I explain how the items synergise with Alistar and when to buy those items.

I can't explain when to actually buy items on every champ (it differs on each). What I was trying to accomplish is to explain how an item synergises in general so that people could apply that reasoning to their favorite tank.

Thanks for the feedback :)

Your moral objection is unfounded. I said that I play Alistar and Leona in bottom lane; I mentioned that supports are similar to tanks;. If you read it through you would have realized that I was basically saying the same thing that you have. The difference comes in which items they buy and how they act in teamfights (with the latter influencing the former).

Anyway, I changed the reference to pure tanks, that was a mistake. I also removed the off-tanks definition. Frankly its not that important, its just meant to give context to the actual content.

My definition of tanks comes mainly from their role in teamfights. They initiate, survive the first round of burst damage, do AoE damage, CC, shield/buff/heal, and in general hold the front line so the damage dealers can secure kills. That is what separates Galio from Blitzcrank and Alistar from Taric.

The differences between off-tanks, tanks, supports etc is fluid. It usually comes down to a champion straddling the line between two groups (or not being able to be defined well at all). Our definitions of supports and tanks are different. I look at them in teamfights; you look at them in the laning phase. It doesn't make either one of us wrong.

stfu